Learning theories and applications in educational settings

Unit :II: Classical Conditioning Theory,
Basic Principles, Cognitive Perspective
And Applications. Operant
Conditioning Theory, Basic Principles ,
Negative Reinforcement, Schedules Of
Reinforcement, Cognitive Perspective
And Applications.
by: Sonalipa Chatterjee
Amrita Ray

Topic [UNIT:II] HOURS
CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
6 HOURS
OPERANT CONDITIONING 8 HOURS

What is Learning?
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that
occurs as a result of practice or experience ,not due to
growth or maturation.(CliffordT. Morgan, Richard A. King, John
R.Weisz and John Schopler, 1993).
This definition has three important elements :
1. Learning is a change in behaviour – for better or worse.
2. It is a change that takes place through practice or
experience---- change due to growth and maturation are not
learning.
3. Before it can be called learning , the change must be relatively
permanent---it must last a fairly long time.

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Classical conditioning is a form of learning in which a
stimulus that previously did not elicit a response , in
reflex like fashion after it is paired for one or more trials
with a stimulus that already elicits a response. Reflex is a
simple , relatively automatic stimulus-response sequence
mediated by the system , for example , knee jerking or
eye blinking response. Classical conditioning is mainly
concerned with forming new reflexes. Here conditioning
means relatively simple modification of behaviour and
classical means in the established manner.

Pavlov’s early work on Classical
Conditioning
Pavlov restricted his experimental studies to the process of
secretion of saliva in dogs.The model of classical conditioning is
given below:
1] UCS-------------------------------------- UR
(Food) (Saliva)
2] CS
( sound of bell)
+ ------------------------------------------UR
UCS (Saliva)
(Food)
3] CS ---------------------------------------- CR
( Sound of bell) ( Saliva)

Important Concepts related to Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned Stimulus(UCS): a naturally occurring stimulus that leads to an
involuntary response.
Unconditioned Response(UCR): an involuntary response to a naturally
occurring or unconditioned stimulus.
Neutral Stimulus(NS): stimulus that has no effect on the desired response.
Conditioned Stimulus(CS): stimulus that becomes able to produce a learned
reflex response by being paired with the original unconditioned stimulus.
Conditioned Response(CR): learned reflex response to a conditioned
stimulus.

* Where, UCS is Unconditioned Stimulus and UCR is
Unconditioned Response. Here food is UCS and salivation due
to food is UCR.The stimulus is called UCS because the response
depends upon no special condition and the response is unlearned
and implies no pre-conditions.
* During his experimentation on dogs, Pavlov introduced a
sound of bell, a neutral stimulus which evoked no response at
the first presentation.
* After a number of pairing of neutral stimulus with UCS, the
neutral stimulus is presented alone. If it succeeds in eliciting the
response (salivation) then we call it Conditioned Stimulus
(CS) and the response is called Conditioned Response (CR).
So, Classical Conditioning may be defined as “ a process in
which a neutral stimulus by pairing with a natural stimulus
acquires all the characteristics of natural stimulus”

Although classical conditioning happens quite easily, there are a few factors that
researches have discovered:
1) The CS must come before the UCS. If Pavlov rang the bell just after he
gave the dogs the food, they did not become conditioned (Rescorla, 1988).
2) The CS and UCS must come very close together in time- ideally,
only several seconds apart.When Pavlov tried to stretch the time between the
potential CS and the UCS to several minutes, no association was made.Too
much could happen in the longer interval of time to interfere with conditioning
(Pavlov,192 ;Wasserman & Miller, 1997).
3) The neutral stimulus must be paired with the UCS several times,
often many times, before conditioning can take place (Pavlov,1926 ).
4) The CS is usually some stimulus that is distinctive or stands out from
other competing stimuli. The bell was a sound that was not normally present in
the laboratory and, therefore, distinct (Pavlov,192 ; Rescorla,1988).

Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
1) Acquisition: The process by which a conditioned
stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a conditioned
response through repeated pairings of an unconditioned
stimulus with the conditioned stimulus.The time interval
between the CS and UCS may be varied.

Temporal arrangement of the CS and UCS affects the
acquisition of a conditioned response
a) Simultaneous Conditioning: A form of conditioning in which the conditioned
stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) begin and end at the same time.
b) Delayed Conditioning: A form of conditioning in which the onset of the
unconditioned stimulus (UCS) begins while the conditioned stimulus (CS) is still
present.

c)Trace Conditioning: Here, the onset of the conditioned stimulus (CS)
precedes the onset of the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the presentation of
the CS and UCS does not overlap.
d) Backward Conditioning: A type of conditioning in which the presentation of
the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) precedes the presentation of the conditioned
stimulus(CS)

Several additional factors also appear to affect conditioning.
1) Intensity: Conditioning is faster when the intensity of
either the conditioned or unconditioned stimulus increases
(Kamin, 19 65).
2) Interval: Conditioning also depends on the time interval
between presentations of the two stimuli. Extremely short
intervals- less than 0.2 seconds-rarely produce conditioning. In
animal research, the optimal CS-UCS interval seems to be
between 0.2 and 2 seconds; longer intervals make it difficult for
animals to recognize the conditioned stimulus as a signal for some
future event (Gordon, 1989).

3) Familiarity: Familiarity can greatly affect conditioning. In
contrast to the laboratory, where stimuli selected for study are
often novel, many of the potential conditioning stimuli found in
the environment are familiar to us.Thus, our day-to-day
experiences often teach us that certain stimuli, such as the
background noise usually present in an office setting or the
odors ordinarily present in our homes, do not predict anything
unusual. In other words, we learn that these stimuli are largely
irrelevant, which makes it highly unlikely that these stimuli will
come to act as a conditioned stimuli in the future (Baker &
Mackintosh, 1977).

2) Extinction:
The process through which a conditioned stimulus
gradually loses the ability to evoke conditioned responses
when it is no longer followed by the unconditioned
stimulus. It is not dead and gone, it’s just suppressed or
inhibited by the lack of an association with the unconditioned
stimulus.
Inhibition: Inhibition is a process in which a stimulus inhibits a
response that would otherwise occur. Pavlov described two
types of inhibition: Internal Inhibition and External Inhibition.
Reconditioning: The rapid recovery of a conditioned response
(CR) to a CS-UCS pairing following extinction.
3) Spontaneous Recovery:
The reappearance of a weakened conditioned
response to a conditioned stimulus after an interval of time

5) Stimulus generalization:
The tendency to respond to a stimulus that is only
similar to the original conditioned stimulus with the
conditioned response. For example, a person who reacts with
anxiety to the sound of a dentist's drill machine react with some
slight anxiety to a similar-sounding machine, such as an electric
coffee grinder.
6) Stimulus discrimination:
The tendency to stop making a generalized response
to a stimulus that is similar to the original conditioned
stimulus because the similar stimulus is never paired with
the unconditioned stimulus. For example, although the sound
of the coffee grinder might produce a little anxiety in the dental-
drill-hating person, after a few uses that sound will no longer
produce anxiety because it isn’t associated with dental pain.

Higher Order Conditioning: Pavlov found that once conditioning has
establishe, he could use the conditioned stimulus as an ‘’ unconditioned
stimulus’’ that is to say, if the animal had been conditioned to salivate in
response to a bell. Palov could use the bell to obtain conditioning to some
other stimulus.This process is known as higher-order conditioning and the
first new level is called second-order conditioning.

Diagram to show Higher-Order Conditioning
CS1 (Bell)--------------------- No consistent response
CR
US ( Food)-------------------------- UR (Salivation)
ORGINAL CONDITIONING
CS2 (Light)-------------------- No consistent response
CR2
CS1 (Bell)----------------------- CR 1 (Salivation)
Higher order conditioning

ConditionedTaste Aversion: A type of conditioning in which the UCS
(usually internal cues associated with nausea or vomiting) occurs several
hours after the CS (often a novel food) and leads to a strong CS-UCS
association in a single trial. Conditioned taste aversions are important for
survival because they inhibit the repeated ingestion of dangerous and
toxic substances in animals’ natural environments. Surveys show that food
or beverage aversions are very common among humans ( Logue, Logue &
Strauss,1983; Logue, Ophir, & Sttrauss, 1981).

Classical Conditioning and Stimulus substitution:
This theory, which originated with Pavlov and was influential for
many years, relies on the idea that the CS, simply as a result of
pairing with the UCS, acquires the capacity to substitute for the
UCS in evoking a response. In other words, an association- a link
or a bond-is formed between the CS and the UCS so that the CS
becomes the equivalent of the UCS in eliciting a response. But
while the idea of stimulus substitution is appealingly simple, it is
not currently accepted by most learning theories.

Classical conditioning and Drug Overdose: Knowledge of
conditioning processes has helped to explain some instances of
drug overdose. For example, it is well known that certain drugs
become less effective over time. But why does this occur? One
possibility is that when a person uses drugs repeatedly in a
particular context, the stimuli in that environment become
conditioned stimuli and so elicit a conditioned response (Siegel,
1983,1984). For certain addictive drugs, this conditioned response
can be just the opposite of the unconditioned response (Siegel,
1975; Siegel et al., 1982).
Health professionals can use this knowledge to arrange
environments that minimize relapse among former drug users by
eliminating the cues that trigger conditioned responses.

Techniques based on principles of Classical Conditioning
1) Flooding: Systematic desensitization works by conditioning a new
response (relaxation) to a previously feared stimulus.This approach to lessening
fears is straightforward extinction.A fear-producing stimulus is presented by itself
over and over again. Such direct presentation of a high-strength conditioned
stimulus, either in imagination or in reality, is called flooding.
2) Aversion therapy: Another classical conditioning technique involving
unpleasant stimulation is aversion therapy. Its objective is not to undo fear or
revulsion but to induce such feelings, specifically in relation to stimuli that trigger
unwanted behaviour.
3) Systematic Desensitization: It is a procedure in which relaxation and
pleasant feelings are learned as conditioned responses to stimuli that once acted
as fear producers.

Cognitive Perspective of Classical Conditioning
PREDICTION AND EXPECTATION :
The regular pairing of a conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus provides
subjects with valuable predictive information; it indicates that whenever a conditioned
stimulus is presented, an unconditioned stimulus will shortly follow.Thus, as conditioning
proceeds, subjects acquire the expectation that a conditioned stimulus will be followed
by an unconditioned stimulus, that is, a cognitive process takes place.
The idea that cognitive processes involving expectation play a role in classical
conditioning is a thesis supported by several types of evidence ( Rescorla and Wagner,
1972).
First, conditioning fails to occur when unconditioned and conditioned stimuli are paired
in a random manner. For conditioning to occur, the CS-UCS pairing must be consistent.
Second, the cognitive thesis is supported by a phenomenon known as blocking- the fact
that conditioning to one stimulus may be prevented by previous conditioning to another
stimulus.

MENTAL IMAGEVERSUS PHYSICAL STIMULUS
Mental images of stimuli can substitute for their physical
counterparts in the conditioning process. Conditioned response
was larger in case of those who actually saw the stimulus than
who was asked to imagine. ( Dadds et al. , 1997).

Applications:
The principles of classical conditioning can be used in the
following areas of animal and human behaviour:
1) Developing good habits: Principles of classical conditioning can be used foe
developing good habits in children such as respect for elders, punctuality etc.
2) Breaking bad habits and elimination of conditioned fear: All learning is
acquired in the social environment.Acquired learning may be deconditioned
by using the principles of classical conditioning. Principles of classical
conditioning can be used to decondition anxiety and fear in maladjusted
children.
3) Training if the animals: Animal trainers have been using the principle of
classical conditioning since long time without being much aware of the
underlying mechanisms.
4) Use in psychotherapy: the principles of classical conditioning are used to
remove the emotional fears in mental patients.
5) Developing positive attitudes: The principles of classical conditioning can
be used for developing favorable attitudes towards learning, teachers and
schools.

6) Classical Conditioning and the Immune System: Research also seems to
indicate that it may be possible to alter the immune system through classical
conditioning ( Ader et al., 1993; Husband et al., 1993). Classical conditioning can
exert powerful effects on the immune system, a discovery that may offer
tremendous hope to people whose heath is compromised because of depressed
immune systems, for example, persons who are HIV positive or have AIDS.
7) Conditioned Emotional Response (CER): Emotional response that has
become classically conditioned to occur to learned stimuli.The learning of
phobias is a ery good example of conditioned emotional response. Classic
experiment with ‘’ Little Albert’’ and the white rat was a demonstration of
learning a phobia ( Watson & Rayner, 1920).

Criticism :
The principles of classical conditioning has severely been
criticized by many researchers on some important grounds.
These are a follows:
1) Conditioning principle is unable to describe and explain
the multi-response learning situations.This is supported by
a series of experimental works of Bazren (1939,1940,1949).
2) Conditioning procedure is mechanical in nature.
3) Conditioning is a reflexive phenomenon.
4) Classical conditioning does not recognize significance of
non-reflexive behaviours and their consequences.

OPERANT
(INSTRUMENTAL)
CONDITIONING

OPERANT (INSTRUMENTAL) CONDITIONING
B.F.Skinner (1938) talks of a different type of conditioning
principle which is a modified procedure of Pavlovian classical
conditioning procedure. Building up onThorndike’s work, Skinner
began to publish a series of papers around 1930s exploring such
voluntary responses which he calls ‘operants’. According to
Skinner, the operants are those responses which are emitted, i.e.
elicited spontaneously without any immediately identifiable
stimuli. The essence of the theory is that the strenghth of
response (i.e. frequency, rate, probability of occurrence) increases
as a result of being followed by a reinforcer.

This type of learning is known as Operant conditioning. Operant
means that when a response operates on the environment, it may have the
consequences that can affect the likelihood that the response will occur
again and again.Thus, operants are those responses or behaviours that are
voluntarily emitted by the learner to operate on the environment. Based on
the findings of his experiments, Skinner concluded that “behaviour is
shaped and maintained by its consequences. It is operated by the
organism and maintained by its results”.The occurrence of such
behaviour was named operant behaviour and the process of learning,
that plays a part in learning such behaviour, was termed by him as
operant conditioning.
Operant conditioning refers to a kind of learning process where
a response is made more probable or more frequent by
reinforcement. It helps in the learning of operant behaviour, the
behaviour that is not necessarily associated with a known
stimulus.

Instrumental conditioning is called instrumental because, the
key feature of this form of learning is that some action (some
behaviour) of the learner is instrumental in bringing about a
change in the environment that makes the action more or less
likely to occur again in the future.
Instrumental conditioning is also known as operant
conditioning. This term was coined by B.F. Skinner to indicate
that when a response operates on the environment, it may have
consequences that can affect the likelihood that the response
will occur again.

Experiment on Operant Conditioning
In the 1930s, B.F. Skinner began his influential experiments on
what he termed operant conditioning. Skinner invented the
Skinner box, or, as it is often called, the operant chamber.An
operant chamber is a simple box with a device at one end that
can be worked by the animal in the box. For rats, cats and
monkeys, the device is a lever; for pigeons the device is a small
panel, called a ‘key’, which can be pecked.The lever and key are
really switches that activate, when positive reinforcement is
being used, a food-delivary or water-delivary.

The first step in operant conditioning of a hungry rat is
to get it to eat the food pallets when they are delivered by the
experimenter, who operates the pallet-delivery mechanism
from a push-button switch outside the operant chamber.This first
step is necessary if the food reinforcement is to be effective later,
when the rat will deliver the food pellets to itself by pressing a
lever.
Next, the experimenter stops releasing the pellets, and
the rat is left alone in the box.After an initial period of
inactivity, the rat, being hungry, begins to explore the box and
presses the lever accidentally.A pallet of food is released; that is,
reinforcement is contingent upon pressing the lever.After a while it
presses the lever again, and aging a pallet is released. Usually after
the fourth or fifth press, the rat begins to press the lever more
rapidly, and operant behaviour is in full swing.

Principles in Operant Conditioning:
Several operations are involved in the process of operant
conditioning. Some important operations are:
1) Shaping
2) Extinction
3) Spontaneous recovery
4) Stimulus generalization
5) Stimulus discrimination

1) Shaping: In operant conditioning, there is freedom on the
part of the learner to emit responses.This makes it possible for
the experimenter to shape behaviour through appropriate use
of reinforcement.The basic process in shaping is successive
approximation to the desired behaviour.Thus, the learner
comes to approximate the final response through a series of
successive steps and, therefore, the technique is known as
successive approximation.
The principle of shaping is general one which
applies to the instrumental learning of humans as well as lower
animals. Wolf et al. (19 4) has made a repory of shaping the
behaviour of a seriously disturbed child which may be cited as
an example of shaping human behaviour by applying successive
approximation technique through instrumental learning
procedure.

Chaining: Shaping helps organisms acquire or construct
new and more complex forms of behaviour from simpler
behaviour.What about even more complex sequence of
behaviour? These behaviour can be cultivated by means of a
procedure called chaining-a procedure that establishes a sequence
of responses, which lead to a reward following the final response in the
chain. Shaping and chaining obviously have important implications
for human behaviour. For example, when working with a
beginning student, a skilled instructor may use shaping techniques
to establish basic skills by praising simple accomplishment.As the
training progresses, however, the student may receive praise only
when he or she successfully completes an entire sequence or
chain of actions.

2) Extinction: Just as in classical conditioning in operant
conditioning procedure also it is possible to extinguish the
conditioned response (CR) by withholding reinforcement. If positive
reinforcement no longer follows that response, the tendency for it
to occur will decrease; responses which do not pay off tend not to
be made.The procedure of not reinforcing a particular response is
known as extinction.
3) Spontaneous recovery: The phenomenon of
spontaneous recovery has almost similar characteristics in Pavlovian
and Operant conditioning. It refers to the fact that if an organism is
removed from the situation for a while after extinction and then
returned and again presented with stimulus, his performance will be
better than would be predicted from his performance at the end of
preceding extinction.

4) Stimulus generalization: In instrumental conditioning,
stimulus generalization occurs.The response in instrumental
conditioning is made in a particular stimulus situation-in an
operant chamber with a certain type of light, for example. If the
stimulus situation is changed, the response still occurs but less
readily than it did in the original stimulus situation. Furthermore,
the tendency to respond depends upon the degree of similarity
between the original training situation and the changed one.
5) Stimulus discrimination: Like classical conditioning, in
instrumental conditioning the discrimination was described as the
process of learning to make one response to one stimulus and
another response-or no response-to another stimulus. In
instrumental conditioning experiment, discrimination is achieved
simply by reinforcing a particular response to one stimulus and
not reinforcing-which amounts to extinguishing- the same
response to other stimulus.

Important concept of Operant conditioning
Reinforcement: Reinforcement is any stimulus or event, that when
following a response, increases the probability that the response will
occur again. Reinforcement is defined as follows:
1) The occurrence of a particular behaviour.
2) is followed by an immediate consequence.
3) that results in the strengthening of the behaviour.
A behaviour that is strengthened through the process of
reinforcement is called an operant behaviour.The consequence
that strengthens an operant behaviour is called a reinforcer.

Types of Reinforcement:
The events or items that can be used to reinforce
behaviour are not all alike. Depending upon this criteria
reinforcement can be divided into two types-
Primary
Reinforcer
Any reinforcer that is
naturally reinforcing
by meeting a basic
biological need.
Such as food (hunger
drive), liquid (thirst
drive) or touch
(pleasure drive).
Secondary/
Conditioned
Reinforcer
Any reinforcer that
becomes reinforcing
after being paired with a
primary reinforcer
Such as praise, tokens,
money etc.

Reinforcement can also differ in the way they are used:
The reinforcement
of a response by
the addition or
experiencing of a
pleasurable
stimulus.
Stimuli that
strengthen
responses that
precede them.
Positive
Reinforcemen
t The reinforcement
of a response by
the removal, escape
from, or avoidance
of an unpleasant
stimulus.
Stimuli that
strengthen
responses that
permit the
organism to avoid
or escape from
their presence
Negative
Reinforcement

ESCAPE BEHAIOUR AND AVOIDANCE BEHAIOUR
Escape learning is an example of instrumental conditioning based on negative
reinforcement. In escape behaviour, the occurance of the behaiour results in
the termination of an aversie stimulus that was already present when the
behaviour occured.That is, the person escapes from the aersie stimulus by
engaging in a particular behaiour, and that behaiour is strengthened.
In avoidance behaviour, the occurance of the behaviour prevents an aversie
stimulus from occurin.That is the person aoids the aversive stimulus by
engaging in a particular behaviour, and that behaviour is strengthened.

Schedules of Reinforcement
The procedure of giving reinforcement is called conditioning which may
be given on regular or intermittent schedule.The important schedules
of reinforcement in developing and shaping individual’s behaviour are as
follows:
• It is an arrangement of
providing reinforcement
after every correct
response.
Continuous
schedule
• It is an arrangement when
sometimes we provide
reinforcement and
sometimes we withhold
the reinforcement.
Partial or
intermittent
schedule

Partial schedule of reinforcement has been further classified into the various
categories:
1) Interval schedule: It is an arrangement of giving reinforcement
after an interval. It can also be divided into two types:
• Here, the reinforcement
is presented after a
certain interval of time.
Fixed interval
schedule
• In variable interval
schedule the interval is
randomly varied after
some given time value.
Variable interval
schedule

2) Ratio schedule: in this schedule, the performance of the learner
is important as for example the learner responds correctly 2 questions
and he receives a chocolate. It can also be divided into two types:
• Here, the response must
occur a certain number of
times before reinforcement
occurs. Here, the ratio refers
to the number of
unreinforced and reinforced
responses.
Fixed ratio
schedule
• In this arrangement, the
number of responses required
for a reinforcement varies
around some average ratio.
Variable ratio schedule

Punishment: In contrast to reinforcement, punishment
refers to procedures that weaken or decrease the rate of
behaviour.There are two types of punishment:
• In positive punishment, behaviours are
followed by aversive stimulus events
termed punisher. In such instances, we
learn not to perform these actions
because aversive consequences-
punishers-will follow.
Positive
Punishment
• In negative punishment the rate of a
behaviour is weakened or decreased
because the behaviour is linked to the
loss of potential reinforcements
(Catania,1992; Millenson & Leslie,1979).
Negative
Punishment

When does punishment work?
The effectiveness of punishment depends upon a number of
factors.
1)Mild punishment to guide behaviour may be most
effective in the long run.
2)The more consistently punishment is administered, even
if it is mild, the more effective it will be, if it is effective at all.
3) People and animals adopt to punishment, and this
may weaken its effectiveness.
4) Punishment, even when mild, can be quite effective if it
is used to suppress one behaviour.

Reinforcement and Punishment:An overview
Procedure Stimulus events Effects Behavioural
Outcomes
Positive
reinforcement
Application of a
desirable stimulus
(e.g., food, praise)
Strengthens
responses that
precede occurrence
of stimulus
Organisms learn to
perform responses that
produce positive
reinforcers
Negative
reinforcement
Application of an
undesirable (aversive)
stimulus (e.g., heat,
cold, harsh criticism)
Strengthens
responses that
permit escape from
or avoidance of
stimulus
Organisms learn to
perform responses that
permit them to avoid
or escape from
negative reinforces.
Positive
punishment
Application of
undesirable (aversive)
stimulus
Weakens responses
that precede
occurrence of
stimulus
Organisms learn to
suppress responses
that lead to unpleasant
consequences
Negative
punishment
Loss or
postponement of a
desirable stimulus
Weakens responses
that lead to loss or
postponement of
stimulus
Organisms learn to
suppress responses
that lead to loss or
postponement of
desired stimulus

Difference between Negative
Reinforcement and Punishment
It is the ending of
the event that is
contingent on the
response in
negative
reinforcement.
Responses
followed by
negative
reinforcement
tend to become
more likely.
Negative
Reinforce
ment
It is the onset
of the event
that is
contingent on
the response in
punishment.
Responses
followed by
punishment
tend no to be
repeated.
Punishment

Cognitive perspective of Operant Conditioning
Studies of learned helplessness and the presence of a genetically
inherited impairment in the ability to experience pleasure, contrast
effects, and memory of reward events support the conclusion that
cognitive factors play an important role in operant conditioning.
Many psychologists believe that no account of operant
conditioning can be complete without attention to cognitive
factors ( Colwill, 1993). Several types of evidence support this
conclusion.

• Perhaps the most dramatic evidence is the existence of a
phenomenon known as learned helplessness: it seems to
result from situations in which nothing a person does yields
reinforcers or provides escape from aversive events.
Researches have begun to speculate that genetic factors may
also play a role in learned helplessness. One such factor that
has gained recent attention is a genetically inherited
impairment in the ability to experience pleasure termed
hypohedonia (Meehl, 1975).Apparently, the positive feelings
that usually accompany successful performance are not
experienced by people with hypohedonia. In other words,
these individuals’ correct responses may not feel very different
from incorrect ones.

• Another important evidence is contrast effect. Some
evidence suggests that our behaviour is influenced not only by
the level of rewards we receive but by our evaluation of
rewards relative to our experiences with previous rewards.
Studies have shown that shifts in the amount of reward we
receive can dramatically influence performance, a temporary
behaviour shift termed the contrast effect ( Crespi,1942;
Flaherty & Largen, 1975; Shanab & Spencer, 1978).The
existence of contrast effects indicates that level of reward
alone cannot always express our behaviour and that
experience with a previous level of reward and consequent
expectancies can dramatically affect our performances.
Finally evidences suggest that cognitive processes play an active
and important role in operant learning.

Application of Operant Conditioning:
Operant or instrumental conditioning principle is of greatest value in
socializing a child, i.e., shaping the child’s behaviour into our social norms and
values.This facts has been pointed out by Skinner in his famous book ‘ Science
and Human Behaviour’.
1.The principle of operant conditioning may be successfully applied in
behaviour modification.
2. Principles of operant conditioning have been applied in interventions
aimed at solving socially significant issues in our communities, such as
crime, health care issues, consumer affairs and safety promotion
(Geller,1995,199 ; Green et al., 1987;Topf, 1999).
3. Often instrumental or operant conditioning is also used deliberately
to shape our desired behaviour.

Critical aspects of Operant conditioning
Some of the weaknesses of this theory are:
1) In instrumental conditioning, the logical learning or other higher
learning processes can not be explained in terms of operant
conditioning.
3) Chomsky criticized the generality of application of the concepts
and principles derived from controlled experimental studies on animals to
the social learning situations.
4) Skinner has completely ignored the innate endowment that is the
hereditary factor which is very important in learning.
5) It mechanizes the mental processes and treats the organism like a
machine.

References
1) Psychology by Robert A. Baron, 2001
2) Psychology-The Study Of Human Behaviour by Braj Kumar
Mishra, 2018
3) Introduction to Psychology by CliffordT. Morgan, Richard A.
King, John R.Weisz and John Schopler, 1993
4)Psychology by Saundra K. Ciccarelli and Glenn E. Meyer, 2008
5) Adanced Educational Psychology by S S Chauhan, 2007

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